My supervisor

I realise now, looking back, that I was stupid to stay with my supervisor throughout this DPhil. I should have moved or left or something, she too scatty. Too late now I know.


She doesn't really hear what you're saying sometimes or know what she's saying and then makes up things she thinks she'd said. I often left meetings with her, which would typically be 30 mins to 1 hour, confused and with very little meaningful information. I tried to cancel these meetings, suggesting that we meet much less frequently but she then started to phone and email more and try to get me in the corridor or just turn the group meetings into discussions about my work. After a while I gave up fighting it and just kept meeting with her once a week. Often I daydream in these meetings. I go in with some questions I need answered and the rest of the time I let her ramble till she feels better and then leave.



She had another student before me. He was from far away and English wasn't his first language. He left before I completed my first year. Given that I don't understand my boss most of the time, I can't imagine how difficult he must have found it. He left without his DPhil for many reasons but just before he left he gave me and a colleague dictaphones. He wanted us to use them in our meetings with the boss. He was very angry with her for not making sense in their meetings and (he said) constantly changing what she thought had been decided. He was always angry though. He had behaviour issues, he almost threw a punch at a different colleague after chasing him around the meeting room once.



She's a nice person is my boss, a genuinely nice person, but I do agree with her ex-student in part. She often doesn't make sense and rarely answers a question directly. She'll usually ramble on incoherently and tangentially. She's disorganised, occasionally makes inappropriate comments (e.g. talking about her son's personal life in a group meeting).